Lost and Found
by SamanthaRoseHeartfillia
Summary: Before Gajeel joined Phantom Lord he had two beautiful daughters whom he loved more than anything. But when his daughters are brutally taken from him he tried to get them back. After an incident in which he believes they are now dead he joins the dark guild. Only to find when he is in Fairy Tail that his girls may be alive after all.
1. Chapter 1

"_Gajeel...you have to save the twins. I want them to live a happy life and become wonderful mages. I know that with you raising them, they'll be okay. "_

"_What am I supposed to do? I don't know how to save the twins. I want you with me. We can raise the twins together and be a family like we planned. Please don't leave me!"_

_Tears swelled from Gajeels eyes as he watched his wife slowly die in his arms. He held her hand and brought it to his lips. He could hear his wifes pained breathing and wished there was something he could do to ease her pain. Swarmed by sadness and pain, Gajeel didn't feel his wife place a folded piece of paper in his hands. It was only when Kiara placed a hand on his cheek did he notice the paper._

"_What is this?"_

_By then, Kiara's breathing was coming in short gasps. Gajeel knew he was going to lose her soon and it only made him want to save her more. He turned to her as she spoke, wincing as he heard the pain and hard effort it took her to speak._

"_It's… a transfer spell. It will… allow you to… transfer the babies… from my body… to your body. It's… the only way… to save them. Please Gajeel."_

_Gajeel was unsure. He heard that in some cases where the transfer spell is used to transfer unborn children from one body to another, the spell doesn't work completely and the children are lost. Gajeel didn't want to lose his daughters, but he knew that the spell was the only way. _

_Placing both hands over his wife's swell, he began to chant the words on the paper. A yellow light began to glow beneath Gajeel's hands and he started to feel a slight warming sensation in his waist. He continued to chant the words until the yellow glow disappeared. Gajeel looked down and saw that the 5-month bump was gone. The warm sensation had turned to a tingling sensation which told Gajeel that the spell had worked. All he had to do was wait as the spell completed the "rearranging" that was needed for Gajeel to carry the twins. _

_Gajeel looked down at his wife and saw that she was smiling. She was pale from major blood loss, but to Gajeel, she was still as beautiful as she was the day he met her._

"_Thank you, Gajeel. I know you'll raise our girls right."_

"_Kiara…"_

_With that last word, Kiara died in Gajeel's arms. Gajeel felt his heart shatter into a thousand pieces._

"_Kiara!"_

"Daddy look! I drew us!"

Gajeel was brought out of his memory as his daughter came up to him proudly, showing a child's picture of their family. In the picture, Gajeel was smiling and holding the hands of his two twin daughters, Nora and Shilo.

"Isn't it pretty daddy?" She asked him.

"Gihihi! It's beautiful." Gajeel proudly said while holding his five year old in his arms. "Lets put it up on the fridge."

Gajeel took his daughters picture and hung it on the fridge where it was displayed with all the other pictures his daughters drew him. Nora was so young and already an amazing script mage like her mother. He assumed thats why her drawings were always so advanced for one so young.

Gajeel's heart sank when he thought of their mother. _Kiara...I miss you_. Gajeel noticed something else on the drawing. There was a light haired brunette with wavy hair in the corner. She had wings, a halo, and she bore the proudest smile a five year old could draw.

"Nora, who is this?"

"It's mommy. I drew what I thought she'd looked like. You said she looked like me." Nora had never known her mother, so how could she draw her so accurately?

"Right." Gajeel said, entranced by the angel on the picture. "Go get your sister." Gajeel told Nora, setting her down. "It's time we head out for the market."

"Can we get strawberries at the market?" Nora asked excitedly.

"Course we can. Now hurry up and grab Shilo." Nora gave a cheer and went to find her sister. Gajeel got their coats and waited by the door. Within a few minutes both girls came bounding around the corner. Shilo's straight black hair was starting to frizz up like Gajeel's does. Gajeel laughed and smoothed down her hair before fitting her winter jacket around her. Nora had put on her own jacket and was waiting patiently. Gajeel opened the door and together, the small family headed to the market.

In the market Gajeel gave the girls a few coins to spend while he found food for the week. He looked at the few coins in his hands and frowned. Times were getting tough and this small town could not provide him stable jobs. Even though Gajeel wasn't aligned in a guild he tried his best to find mage missions to take. Most of them didn't pay well. He sighed. Perhaps he could get a discount from the cute market girl even though he doubted it. Gajeel never really made a good first impression on people and doubted he'd made a good one on her. Gajeel checked over his shoulder a few times to make sure his girls were in sight and they always were.

After getting kicked out of another shop for not having money Gajeel turned to look for his girls, dissatisfied with the food he'd managed to scrape together. As Gajeel searched the small market place he didn't see his daughters. Gajeel looked everywhere. When that failed he sniffed the air. If he concentrated Gajeel could smell his daughters scents. He'd found them, across the marketplace and in the street. _What?_ He wondered what they were doing there as he followed the scent. The scent led him to the street but there was no one in sight. Occasionally a magic mobile passed but still, Gajeel did not find his daughters. His breath quickened but he had to think straight to find them. He tried the scent again. This time he raced after the fleeting scent. They seemed to be travelling in a magic mobile because no matter how fast he ran he couldn't catch up to them. Gajeel pushed on and ran faster. He had to find his girls.

Eventually, Gajeel caught up to the scent. The magic mobile had parked in a ramshackle storage shed. Gajeel sniffed the air again. The scent was still there. His girls were here. He decided to hide a little ways off. In case of danger, he didn't want to put his girls at risk. Gajeel watched a man step out of the car. He opened a door and two five years old mages stepped out. They were Nora and Shilo. Gajeel grit his teeth as he saw that his girls looked scared and confused. _What had that man done to get them to get them to go with him? What does he want with them? He's a fool to kidnap my kids! _Gajeel turned his arm into a iron bar and prepared to fight. He wanted to get to the girls before they were taken inside.

Gajeel quickly jumped out of his hiding spot. Without losing a step, he ran full force and slammed the bar into the man's stomach. "Papa!" Nora screamed.

"Get out of here! Run home!" Gajeels screamed at the girls as he blocked a magic attack from the kidnapper. He had barely begun to fight when he heard two tiny muffled screams. Gajeel turned around. His girls were being manhandled by more kidnappers. They were struggling to use their magic but neither of them had enough strength to fight.

"Bastards! Let go of my kids!"

Gajeel ushered a war cry and almost rammed into the kidnappers when they held up his girls like a shield.

"Cowards!" He screamed, fury filling every fiber of his being.

"This doesn't have to get any worse." The man behind Gajeel spoke up. He faced him. "Just leave and no harm will come to anyone. Not you or your children." The man, who was about 5'6'' with slimy green hair, promised while wiping some blood from his face.

"Leave? Are you kidding me? You take a man's only daughters and you expect me to just leave?!" Gajeel shouted to the skies, letting his anger show. He hadn't realized how he too was scaring his daughters.

A fight ensued. The green haired kidnapper struck first, pinning Gajeel to the ground with paper magic.

"Purple paper, paralyze your target."

As he whispered purple scraps of paper flew towards Gajeel. He didn't have time to react as the paper struck him and he couldn't move.

"What...What is this?" He choked out.

"No one can withstand the hold my paper magic has. It's useless. I'm taking your daughters and that's that."

Gajeel wanted to swear at him, to curse him to hell, swing his fists and pound him into the ground, but he couldn't move. All he managed was a lifted hand that was soon stomped on by the heel of a boot.

Suddenly a foot landed in his stomach and the wind was knocked out of Gajeel. More kicks to the stomach rendered him incapable of breathing for more minutes than he liked. More of the kidnappers joined in until, even without the paper magic, Gajeel would not be able to stand.

With the dirty work done, the kidnappers stopped kicking him and left him there. They started dragging his girls who were screaming and kicking with all their might.

"NO! PAPA!" Shilo's screams pierced his heart and he felt a tear run down his cheek but still, he could not move.

"Let us go!" Nora screamed while trying to use her script magic, but all that did was paint the kidnappers face pink with yellow happy faces.

"Please...no." Gajeel begged in a whisper. He watched the kidnappers walk into the ramshackle shed with his daughters. There were windows and he could see the kidnappers conversing with someone inside while his daughters were still fighting to escape.

Gajeel watched through the window as a hand came down on the two squirming shadows. Gajeel didn't know what they did but they didn't move anymore. A lead rock sunk in his gut. He was brimming with anger and desperation. Luckily the creeps magic was starting to wear off. Gajeel was able to raise an arm. An arm was all he needed. Using his dragon slayer magic he sent an iron bar flying towards the kidnapper faces. The bar slammed through the window and into the kidnappers face, but it didn't stop soon enough. His iron bar must have hit a keg loaded with gunpowder and ignited it because the next second the shed was up in flames. Gajeels arm burned and he retracted it quickly out of instinct. Then fearing the demise of his daughters, he tried again to move but no attempts worked. Gajeel could hear screaming and yelling of commands. Some people were still alive, but all that soon faded out as his world turned black.

Gajeel gripped the arm that held the scars he received that day from the fire. Every day that arm reminded him of what he'd lost. It reminded him of the darkness there was in this world. No matter what anyone did they cannot escape the darkness. Gajeel saw the world as two sides of a war, light and dark. Right now, dark was winning. Thats why he joined Phantom Lord. If one side was going to win he wanted to be on the victors side. Every day he was in Phantom Lord, he kept to himself. He cared nothing for his comrades. He didn't even consider them comrades. Just co-workers.

When Phantom Lord fell to Fairy Tail, Gajeel was again left with nothing. He was thrown into poverty again. Jobs were even harder to find and food was extremely scarce. He began to think about the reason he joined Phantom Lord. He wanted to join the winning side, but that side had eventually fallen. Did he choose wrong? Or was this just more bad luck. He didn't think it could get any worse. Then again it could; he could be dead.

Shortly after Phantom Lord's fall, Gajeel joined Fairy Tail. The fairies annoyed him at first but slowly, he started to see the good in them; the good they gave to the world. For the first time in a long time, Gajeel was seeing the world in brighter colors. _Brighter colors indeed._ He thought as he stared at Levy while she was working on another translation job. He marvelled at how her wardrobe complimented itself, and her, perfectly.

"Staring at your love interest again?" Mirajane asked him suddenly. He spit out the nails he was chewing on and turned around to face her behind the bar.

"What?"

"Come on Gajeel, everyone can see that you two like each other. All it takes is one of you to take the first step." Mirajane winked. Gajeel frowned but his blushing face gave him away.

"You're crazy lady. I'm going for a walk."

He left before he was objectified more. Magnolia was a nice city. Busy people crisscrossed the streets getting their daily chores done.

As he walked he let his mind wander. Once again his mind wandered to the bright smile on Shilo's face when she made small snowflakes with her magic. Flashes of Nora's face as she proudly showed her father the picture of them together melted his cold heart. Gajeel tried to shake the memories away but his eyes wandered to the scars on his arm. Once again he was reminded of them...It was his fault. Gajeel was the one who had set off the fire. Maybe if he'd just given up his girls would still be alive. Away from him but alive. Gajeel scolded himself for thinking that way. _Who knows what that madman could have done to them..._Before his thoughts could go further he bumped into something.

"Hey! Watch it ass hat!" That something yelled at him. What he bumped into were two girls: one with short wavy light brown hair; the other with long black hair with purple streaks. A small fox exceed stood by the black haired girls feet, crossing his arms. He wore a red spiked collar and was trying to look tough despite his size.

"Tch, you're the one who was in my way." Gajeel scorned and tried to walk away but the light haired girl held him back.

She had light blue skinny jeans on with stylish yet practical boots and a dark red tank top. Unlike her friend, almost everything about the black haired girl was black: her nails, her eyeliner, her clothes…she even wore black fingerless gloves. She also had piercings on her ears and nose, almost like the ones Gajeel had yet they were silver not iron.

The light haired girl scowled at him. "You should watch your tongue around two skilled mages."

"Gihihihi!" Gajeel laughed, "You should watch yours when you're speaking to a member of Fairy Tail."

"Wanna fight punk!?" She replied.

"Been waiting for this all day!" Gajeel laughed again and got ready to fight.

The black dressed girl sighed, "Honestly Nor, lets just go. No reason bothering with him." She looked bored and stared into the distance as if to prove his thought.

"It's been too long since I had a good fight. Lets see what you got, Piercings."

Gajeel frowned. _Did she just call him piercings? _It didn't matter. Gajeel took this chance to get the first strike in. The girl blocked his iron arm with a scripted shield. Within seconds she had scripted a magic sword to fight with.

"Fancy script magic. Never seen it used quite like that." He commented before striking again.

The girl blocked again and threw a swing in with her sword.

"You've got some fancy magic too, Piercy." She smiled.

"Stop calling me that!" Gajeel aimed another blow. This one hit the girl right in the gut. She was on a knee when Gajeel heard a familiar voice.

"Hey, Gajeel! What's going on?"

Salamander came up to him, obviously just back from a job. Lucy and Gray were in the background, sighing. They figured the dragonslayers were going to fight the girls. Apparently they weren't worried because they shouted something about meeting them back at the guild and left.

"Some weaklings giving you trouble?"

"Nothing I can't handle, but nothing that would be fun without someone to back me up." Gajeel smiled at him.

Natsu slammed his fist into his other one and flames began to course around him.

"Alright! I'm all fired up!"

"WEAKLINGS!" The light haired one shouted, angry they'd been interrupted. "Back me up Shi." As she said it the black dressed girl shrugged and took a stance much like the one Gray uses during his fights.

Salamander and Gajeel were ready. Both sides came at each other with great force. The brown haired girl attacked Gajeel with her script sword while the black haired girl made an ice tiger and attacked Natsu with an ice katana from one side while her tiger attacked from the other. Unfortunately, the two girls had picked the wrong fight. Soon they were on the ground panting, one seemed unconscious. The fight was over sooner than Gajeel would have liked it. As he and Salamander turned around they met their exceeds. Happy and Natsu high fived.

"You're so awesome Gajeel!" Lily offered as encouragement. Gajeel gave him a smile and a thumbs up.

The dragon slayers were going to head back to Fairy Tail when he overheard the girls talking to each other.

"Dammit, Nora. Why do you have to pick a fight with everyone we meet?"

"I'm sorry, Shilo. I didn't mean for us to get hurt. Guess we're not as strong as we'd hoped."

_Nora, Shilo...Why did those names sound familiar? _Gajeel mentally slapped himself for how long it took him to realize. Nora, Shilo...Gajeel looked back at the girls sitting on the ground. The script mage was using healing scripts to heal them with. Nora was a script mage and Shilo used ice make magic, just like that other girl...Gajeel thought. But it couldn't be. He was there to see the shed burn to the ground not a soul in sight. Suddenly Gajeel saw the light brown hair of his former wife and his dark spiky hair in the two girls. Gajeels eyes opened wide.

"Eh? Gajeel, why'd you stop?" Salamander came up to him asking.

"You go on ahead, I'll be back in a little bit." He said instinctively. Salamander shrugged it off and went off with Happy exclaiming about food.

"Gajeel? What's wrong?" Pantherlily asked him. He always knew if something was on his mind.

"Probably nothing. But I want to make sure." Gajeel replied and left a befuddled Pantherlily to catch up to him as he walked toward the young mages. He scanned them for similarities. _Right age, same features, same magic use…could this really be them?_ Gajeel had to know for sure.

When he came up to the girls they were less than happy to see him back.

"What now? Come to deal finishing blows? I didn't take you for the killing type." The light haired one her friend had called Nora said.

"Look, I'm sorry I beat you up so bad." The girls scoffed at him. He continued as if he hadn't heard them. "Do want a place to clean up? I can bring you to my guild Fairy Tail. There's a few wizards in there who can fix you up good." Gajeel looked away sheepishly.

The girls stared at him in surprise. Nora had completely lost concentration on her healing script and it faded into nothing. Suddenly the exceed came between the girls and Gajeel. "I'll have you know we already have a place to stay and would never accept charity from ruffians like you!" The fox sauntered crossing his arms and pursing his lips as if the decision was final.

"Now, Koda. You don't have to go being rude." Shilo laid a hand on the exceeds shoulder.

"But, Shilo-kun they hurt you!" Koda pleaded but was silenced with one look from Shilo. "Fine." He protested by crossing his arms again but seemed to agree anyway.

"What makes you think we want to stay with you anyway?" Nora stood up and faced Gajeel. If he didn't know better he'd think she was looking for another fight.

"Fine if you don't want to." Gajeel gave in. He wasn't going to force them. Still, it pained him to give up his only hope of a chance at finding his daughters after he thought them dead twelve years ago.

"Hold on!" Shilo called him back. Gajeel had to hide a smile as he turned back to them.

"Shi!" Nora protested but Shilo silenced her.

"We don't have a place to stay and having a bed for once might be a good thing. Besides I want to meet the wizards of Fairy Tail! I hear their guild is number one!" Shilo added with a cheerful smile.

"Ghihihi." Gajeel snickered at her comment.

Nora hesitated but agreed. Gajeel introduced himself and so did the girls, though it wasn't necessary, as he walked them back to Fairy Tail.


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter 2

The mages of Fairy Tail were nice to Nora and Shilo. Even Koda had fun conversing with the other exceeds. Mainly Pantherlily, Gajeel's exceed. Nora thought about the name and the face. She didn't want to believe it. Nora looked over at Shilo. She was looking around the guild hall as Mirajane gave them a tour. Shilo seemed happy and excited. Nora wondered if she suspected him to be their father too.

When the tour was over Mira let them wander. They were free to converse. A young girl named Wendy had healed them up before. All that was left was to meet the other guild members. Nora pulled Shilo back for a minute at a table in the corner. She wanted to get her sisters opinion before anything.

"What is it? You've got that worried look on your face." Shilo asked.

"What do you think of the dragon slayer guy?"

"Gajeel?" Shilo's face light up. "Do you think he is too!? Our father I mean?" Nora was taken aback by her aburt acceptance and happiness that he could be their father.

"Wha-well I don't know." Nora stuttered.

"But what if he is! After all these years Nora we can finally be a family with him again!"

Shilo seemed rather happy to have a chance to see their father but Nora wasn't so sure she shared her sister's ecstacity. "That's just it, Shi. All those years, growing up without him. He wasn't there for us, no one was. I just don't trust him."

"You don't trust anyone." Shilo began skeptically.

"And I can beat anyone we don't like too!" Koda came up to them, adding in his own way, support for Shilo's thoughts on the matter. Nora sighed. She loved those two. They were the only people she trusted. Which made her skeptical of anyone else.

"I suppose…" She started. She watched Shilo and Koda's faces light up as she continued. "Theres a chance we can look into it." As Nora finished Shilo and Koda jumped up in excitement.

Before Nora could say more a woman came up to them. She was short, shorter than Shilo, with blue hair and an orange dress. Nora had to admit she was cute and that made her jealous.

"Hello! I'm Levy!" Levy extended a hand to them which Nora and Shilo shook in turn. "I heard you came to the guild with Gajeel right?"

"Yeah after he beat the crap out of us." Nora joked just to break the ice.

Levy laughed along. "That's the same way Gajeel and I met too!"

Shilo and Nora were surprised. "Really?" They asked together.

"Yeah, but the circumstances were different."

"Oo! I love stories!" Shilo exclaimed and offered Levy a seat.

Levy sat down and began to tell about how Gajeel used to belong to a dark guild called Phantom Lord that attacked Fairy Tail. When Nora heard what Gajeel had done to Levy and her comrades she was angry, confused and shocked all at the same time. She was angry he could have ever done something like that. Confused that the man who could possibly have been their father committed such heinous acts and shocked he would follow through with it. When Levy saw Nora and Shilo's faces though she elaborated more. "But it's okay now! He's changed. Gajeel is a better man than he was in Phantom Lord. You don't have to be scared of him." Levy finished and no one else said a word. "So what kind of magic do you guys use?" She broke the silence.

"I use Dynamic Ice make magic! And my sister is a script mage!" Shilo answered happily.

"Hey, I use script magic too! How advanced are you?" Levy want off when she heard about Nora's magic use.

"Well I can make weapons out of my script magic. What about you?"

"Whoa! You can make weapons out of it! That's amazing. I heard only really skilled script mages can accomplish that. Unfortunately I haven't. But I can still do a lot more things with my magic!" Levy then turned to Shilo. "You said you use ice maker magic?" Shilo nodded. "Thats the same magic used by our very own Gray of Fairy Tail! He's one of our best mages and-" Levy was about to say more when a whole outfit of clothes came flying in her face. "-and he strips subconsciously." She finished. Nora and Shilo looked at the dark haired ice mage in utter surprise. He had stripped down to his underwear and was walking towards a fight when someone interrupted him.

"Gray you're clothes." A girl at the bar calmly said as if this were a daily thing.

"I told you I don't have time for that!" He exclaimed and stomped off to join the fight which seemed to consist of Natsu and lots of other mages. Nora looked back at Levy and saw she discarded the clothes on the floor.

"It's like that all the time here. Fairy Tail mages can't help but show off their power with a fight." Levy laughed weakly. The table was silent until Shilo broke it by bursting out laughing.

"This place is great! Everyone here is so eccentric!" She exclaimed still laughing. Levy soon joined in and so did Koda. Nora had nothing left to do but to join them. When she thought about the mages here she understood why Shilo found Fairy Tail so jubilant. Soon Nora was laughing just as hard as the others.

When the laughing died down so did the fighting. Nora looked over to see a red headed girl holding Natsu and Gray over a pile of unconscious wizards. Nora got the feeling the redhead had knocked out all the other mages and now stood with two of the defeated as her trophy.

"Honestly, you boys don't know how to settle down." The redhead looked like she wanted to pummel their heads together as if she didn't already do that.

Suddenly Levy leaned over the table towards the girls. "That's Erza. She's an S-class wizard and easily the strongest member of Fairy Tail."

Nora looked around as Levy explained all the other Fairy Tail members to Shilo. She couldn't help but notice Gajeel was not part of the fighting. He was sitting at the bar chewing on...nails!? He _was_ just like their father. While Shilo was busy in conversation with Levy, Nora made her escape. She made a beeline for Gajeel.

Gajeel saw her come up to him and stopped eating. His eyes got just a bit bigger as he faced her. Nora couldn't quite place the emotion on his face when he saw her as it was gone too soon. Nora didn't want to beat around the bush so she got straight to the point.

"Year 765 a chilly sunday morning our family was ripped from us...where were you?" Nora almost couldn't say the words. She was nervous, scared and something else she couldn't quite place.

Gajeel sat up straight. She had his attention now. His eyes grew wide again as he looked her over, taking in everything before answering. "I knew it. It is you." Nora took a step back as Gajeel stood up. She could see tears beginning to form in his eyes. Before Nora could protest Gajeel wrapped her into a hug and she felt his tears strike her shoulder. "I'm sorry." He repeated at least ten times until he finally pulled away and said, "I'm sorry I wasn't there for you. I thought you two were dead. I thought my family was gone." Gajeel sniffled. "I lost everything. You and Shilo were my world. To lose you...sent me into the darkness."

"Dad…" Nora whispered just barely loud enough for him to hear. Gajeel hugged her again. Suddenly, Nora's heart was filled with anger. She pushed Gajeel away. Feeling tears sting her eyes, she wiped them off.

"NO!" She said forcefully. Tears fell down her cheeks faster. "I can't- I can't just accept you back into our lives. You weren't there for us! Did you even look for us after the fire because we did! We never stopped looking! But you weren't there. We grew up alone. _I_ took care of us! Not you!" Nora wept miserably in front of her father. She normally wasn't such a cry baby. She always showed Shilo her strong side. She never cried in front on anyone, but finding her father was more than she could take. Nora opened her mouth to say more but nothing came out. She could see Gajeel thinking of something to say that would make things better but nothing would. Nora turned around and ran out of the guild before he could attempt to comfort her.

Nora was out the door before Gajeel could respond. He watched her fade into the street lights and city life. He kicked himself for not doing something to make up for all those years. There had to be something he could do to get his girls back into his life. Gajeel looked around the guild hall. He saw Erza staring out the open door, a fallen strawberry cake by her feet. He was searching for Shilo but she wasn't with Levy as she was before. In fact, she was right next to him. Gajeel tried to hide his crying eyes.

"It's you isn't it…"She began slowly. Searching Gajeels eyes for the answer his mouth would not say. "You're our father. Nothing else would make Nora act like that."

"Yeah," was all Gajeel could muster as he stared into her purple eyes. They shined with hope and yet they were lacking something crucial. _How could such beautiful eyes carry such a large void inside? _Gajeel wondered as he looked down at his daughter. _Maybe its the void left by my...after I failed to take care of them?_

Neither of them said anything for a long time. "I'm sorry." Gajeel wanted to say but the words would not come. How could words fail him at a time like this when words were needed most? Finally, Gajeel began to open his mouth and apologize for the years he wasn't there but he noticed Shilo tilt her head down and wipe her eyes.

Gajeel faltered. "Ack! W-why are you crying?"

Shilo lifted her head and offered him a smile. "Because I found my dad! After all these years I knew we would find you again. I'm so happy!" Shilo said and bowled into Gajeel knocking him into the bar. Gajeel was so surprised. Her reaction was so different from Nora's. It took him a while but he eventually wrapped his arms around Shilo too. When he did he was so happy he could hold his child again. How he'd missed their tiny bodies against him. He wanted to protect them again, to be a family but he wasn't sure Nora would want that.

Suddenly Erza dropped her empty plate with a clang. It landed on the floor next to the cake as she walked out the door. Gajeel almost stopped her but, he didn't think he should be the one to comfort Nora, not now. Shilo let go and immediately was busy asking him all sorts of questions. Gajeel decided to start with the beginning, or rather the end of his life with his daughters.

Erza found Nora by the river, skipping rocks into the crimson shaded water. The sun was fading, soon it would be dark out. Erza didn't know what to say, she'd never even met this mage, just heard of her arrival with Gajeel. Still there was something about the girl that reminded Erza of herself.

As she watched Nora's throwing of the rocks became more angered, she threw the rocks with all her might as far as they could go into the water. Some made it to the other side of the river bank. Erza saw anger in her eyes, but more importantly she saw how that anger covered up the loss and pain she felt. Nora hadn't noticed her yet so Erza back tracked to the city. She bought a strawberry cake from her usual bakery and walked back with it to the river. Nora was still there, apparently tired out from throwing her anger into rocks as she was sitting down.

Erza moved to sit beside her. As she did Nora looked up wondering who she was. Erza answered before she could ask. "My name is Erza, I'm from Fairy Tail. I saw what happened and thought you might like something to cheer you up." She offered Nora a slice of the cake, Nora almost refused then said,

"I can't say no to strawberry cake." She took a piece. "Did you follow me here just to give me this?"

"Yes and no." Erza replied staring into the lake as she talked. "When pain or anger finds its way into your heart it's good to have a friend there with you, to keep you from the darkness. I may not be a friend as we've just met, but I hope this cake will suffice."

Nora didn't know how to reply. This woman she just saw beat the crap out of the two strongest wizards in Fairy Tail came to comfort her with strawberry cake, which was her favorite. Fairy Tail certainly was home to some unique wizards. Nora was still at a loss for words so she started with the obvious. "You saw what happened between Gajeel and I?"

"Yes. So he's your father?"

Nora scoffed and threw another rock. "We have no father. My sister and I grew up alone. As far as I'm concerned he's just a member of Fairy Tail."

"Just a member of Fairy Tail?" Erza repeated. "I've known Gajeel for a while now. I'd say he's learned a lot from Fairy Tail. He's not the same man he used to be."

"What are you saying?"

Erza turned to look at Nora for the first time and smiled. "I'm saying give him a chance. Maybe you'll like this new Gajeel." Nora was left stunned as Erza got up and walked away. Nora looked down and noticed she'd left the cake. She tried to call back to Erza but when she turned around she was gone.

Nora walked backed to Fairy Tail, the strawberry cake Erza left in her hands. She thought about what Erza had said. Maybe Gajeel really was different. Maybe she should give him a chance. At least she should try, for Shilo's sake. She was happy at the thought that Gajeel was their father, She wanted to be a family again. If Nora didn't give Gajeel a chance, she knew it would break Shilo's heart. And a broken hearted sister was something that Nora hated.

Entering the guild hall, Nora looked for her father and sister. She found them sitting at the bar. Shilo was tickling Koda and the little fox was laughing, with tears streaming down his face, as he begged Shilo to stop. Gajeel was smiling at his daughter's happiness. Nora guessed that Shilo had told Gajeel about Koda being really ticklish.

Looking at them so happy with each other...it almost felt like they were a family again. Nora shook her head. She would try to give Gajeel a chance but she wasn't sure she was ever going to trust him.

"Gajeel…" Nora said as she walked up to the two at the bar. He turned around instantly, concern plainly showing on his face.

There was tension between the two, Nora opened her mouth and so did Gajeel but Shilo was the first to say something.

"Look at Koda!" She managed as she laughed hysterically. "Not only is he ticklish but he's afraid of dogs!" Nora and Gajeel looked over to see a cowering Koda hiding behind a large mug from Shilo's ice make dog figurine.

"C-c'mon Shi, thats not funny! Dogs are mean!" Said Koda. It was strange seeing him cowering from something as he normally kept an air that he was extremely tough about him. Shilo turned to Nora and her father and smiled cheerfully. Nora couldn't help but smile as well, seeing her sister happy was all she cared about. Apparently Gajeel felt the same, when Nora looked over Gajeel was smiling just as cheerfully back at her.

"Ghihihi!" He laughed. Gajeel and Nora looked at each other. A silent agreement passed through the two, the only thing each of them cared about was Shilo. Nora gave Gajeel an understanding smile. The two shook hands, an action missed by Shilo who was too busy messing with Koda.


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter 3

When Gajeel finally found his daughters again he spent the rest of the evening trying to convince Nora and Shilo to join Fairy Tail.

"I'm a Fairy Tail wizard now. I can't leave my friends." He told them.

"Just because we found you now doesn't mean we have to be a lovely dovey like a family." Nora started arms crossed, yet something about her made Gajeel think she did want to join but was too proud to say so.

"Oh c'mon Nora!" Shilo begged hanging on Shilo's arm. "Don't be like that. We finally found our dad and you won't even give him a chance."

"What chances are there to give? I'm just saying we're adults now and we don't need protection anymore." Nora's face was stoic as she looked away.

"You don't have to stay." Gajeel told them. "I won't stop you from leaving. I thought for the longest time I was never going to see you again. That I had killed you when the shed exploded. Just knowing you two are okay is enough for me." Gajeel smiled at them and Nora seemed to lighten up a bit.

She sighed. "I guess we'll join. We have no where else to go." She confided and Shilo cheered. Suddenly Shilo grabbed Gajeel in a big hug, the biggest one she could manage with how much larger he was than her. Then Shilo grabbed Nora and held both wizards together with more strength than he realised she had.

"This is gonna be so fun! I can't wait to spend time together!" Shilo exclaimed.

It wasn't long until the girls were settled into living in Fairy Tail. They now rented a place at Fairy Hills and Levy showed them around.

"Since rent is 100,000 here you might wanna take on a job as soon as you can." Levy informed them when the tour was over and they were checking out their new room.

"We have a little money saved up. But not that much. Since we've never been on a job before wanna help us out?" Nora politely asked Levy whom she'd come to trust.

Levy faltered. "Actually I have a job with Shadowgear a few towns away. Jet and Droy are coming to pick me up so I can't. But I'll have Natsu and his team help with it. Don't worry they're the strongest team Fairy Tail has!" Levy finished with a smile.

As promised Shadowgear travelled back to the guild with Nora and Shilo to ask Natsu's team to help them on a job.

"Oh I think this one would be fun! Don't you Natsu!" Lucy exclaimed holding up a job request that promised 350,000 jewel. Lucy tried to get Natsu's attention but unfortunately the fire dragon slayer was too busy sizing up the ice wizard.

Neither Natsu or Gray said anything, just stared daggers into each other. If looks could kill everyone in the guild would be suffering for the aftermath. Lucy noticed Natsu was 'busy'. "Uhn. Nevermind." She sighed then turned to Nora and Shilo.

"This job looks like a good one for you guys. Being able to hold your own against Gajeel and Natsu for as long as you did I don't doubt your magic abilities." Nora and Shilo thanked her respectively. Lucy continued. "This one says they need a wizard to get their precious family heirloom back from the bandits who stole it."

"Sounds easy enough. We can discuss the details on the way there. Right now I'll take any job, we need money for rent as soon as possible." Nora laughed weakly and Lucy reassured her it's the same with her.

After failing to get Natsu's attention once more Lucy resorted to pulling out her celestial spirit Loke to break them up. Lucy then proceeded to yell at both Gray and Natsu and told them she wants them to come with her, Nora and Shilo.

Gray declined, "I can't Wendy and I are going on a monster raid as soon as she gets back to Fairy Tail." He said absentmindedly rubbing the back of his head where Loke had hit him.

"I wouldn't want you along anyway ya ice freak!" Natsu yelled in Gray's direction who retorted with profanity. Lucy hit them both over the head again. Ignoring the protests of both wizards she dragged Natsu out the door. Nora and Shilo following a few steps behind.

When the team was at the train station Gajeel showed up. "Gajeel-kun are you coming along too?"

"Yeah." Was all Gajeel said as he grabbed the remaining bags from Lucy and boarded the train. Nora decided to ignore the fact Gajeel had made it so blatant he was joining them. She knew it was probably because he wanted to get to know her and her sister but unless he said anything she wasn't going to start a conversation.

Natsu and Lucy shared a train seat with Gajeel while Nora, Shilo and Koda sat across from them. The train blew its horn letting one last passenger on before departing. The minute it jerked into motion Natsu and Gajeel both grew pale. The passenger that had gotten on last minute came up to the bus seat where Lucy sat and sat next to her.

"Hello, Erza!" Lucy smiled happily. Nora looked over and remembered the red head that had beaten the crap out of Natsu and Gray. This was the same person who gave her the strawberry cake. Nora hoped she would see her again. She saved some cake especially for her. As a token of thanks for showing her kindness. A few feet down the tracks and both dragonslayers looked like they were going to throw up.

"I thought I'd tag along with you, Lucy. I have no other jobs to take and we can share the money." Erza said with a smile, not at all showing the plot her voice had revealed. _All she wants is a share of the money?!_ Nora was thrown off a little but supposed everyone needs food and rent money.

"By the way, Erza-san." Nora started. "I wanted to thank you for earlier." Nora had picked out the best part of the cake for Erza. An edge piece with two strawberries placed on the top.

Erza looked over and saw the cake. Nora thought she'd lost her mind the way she looked at that cake. She took it and thank Nora but the second it was out of Nora's hand Erza took a gigantor bite with a fork she didn't know Erza had been carrying.

The rest of the train ride was full of complaints from Natsu and barfing from Gajeel. Lucy and Erza talked with each other like this was a normal thing. Nora was beginning to question the sanity of Fairy Tail members. Finally the wizards arrived at their destination. They were to meet with the client first to gather information on the bandits last known whereabouts.

But as the team stepped off the train Shilo noticed two certain spikey haired dragon slayers were not with them as the train left again.

"Uh- guys." Shilo called them back. The team looked back towards the train to see Natsu and Gajeel hanging out of the window green-faced.

Koda couldn't help himself from bursting out in laughter as Happy sighed beside him. "This happens all the time. You'd think Natsu would learn." He shrugged.

Eventually Erza tracked down Natsu and Gajeel using a magic mobile. There wasn't enough room for everyone so Nora, Shilo, Koda, Lucy and Happy waited in the train station. It didn't take long for Erza to get back with the dragonslayers who by now were an intense shade of green.

Gajeel tried to play it cool but when he stepped out of the magic mobile Natsu tumbled into him and they were both sent to the pavement. Nora looked away as they both barfed on the train tracks. She never knew her father got such horrible motion sickness. After Gajeel puked he seemed to be visibly better though he still clenched his stomach. Natsu however was better the minute he stepped out of the magic mobile. He perked up with renewed vigor to complete the mission.

Nora, Shilo and the gang arrived at the clients house a few minutes later. The house seemed to be the kind of house that would have a family heirloom. The house had a neat front yard with a fountain in the middle and high hedges all the way around the perimeter. Even from the outside, the wizards could see people bustling around doing things.

"They look almost as wealthy as my family estate." Lucy sort of mumbled. Nora didn't have time to question it though as a maid came up to them. She bowed respectfully and welcomed them.

"Welcome mages of Fairy Tail. Master has been expecting you. Please follow me." She said and lead them through the front gates and into the house. The inside was even more impressive with mediaeval decorations giving the hallways long shadows and dark corners. Still for all its creepy interior the furniture was impressive, consisting mostly of aged vases and couches that had to be a century year old. Despite it's age all the couches and chairs lining the hallway were perfectly upholstered. The maid led them into a library, being a script mage Nora's eyes went everywhere automatically pinpointing books that would be quite useful for magic training could she read them. Gajeel however didn't seem to give the books a second glance, his eyes rested on a man at the back of the room.

The man stood up as they entered and greeted them. "Mages of Fairy Tail!" He began. "Wonderful. My names is Isadore Vendell. I'll get right into it then." He proceeded to tell them about the bandits that had stolen from him. Apparently they had stolen the wedding band of his dead wife and some other thousands of dollars hidden in his safe. "I didn't get a look at the bandits, they were gone before I even realized I was being robbed. But I do know where they are heading. One of my servants reported they saw a dark dressed group fleeing south. He said they looked like they were in a hurry and rather suspicious if I say so myself."

"So we just find these bad guys and kick their butt right?" Natsu exclaimed slamming his fists together. "I'm already fired up!"

"And bring back what is mine, I'd also like to see the face of who stole from me. I tried alerting the kings guards but they couldn't find anything. Simply bring these men to justice and I will award you."

"We will find these bandits for you." Erza assured him. The man seemed to relax and shook her hand. The wizards left Isadore's office and headed outside.

"So...which way is south?" Natsu asked looking around as if the answer would pop out in front of him.

"This way." Erza said and led the mages around the estate. Gajeel began sniffing the air when they got far enough away from the house.

"Theres a faint smell leading this way." Gajeel said and pointed to the left his face still looked sour though.

"Eh? What's wrong, Gajeel?" Lucy asked.

"It smells just like that old man. With an extra hint of alcohol."

"What does that mean?" Nora asked, Gajeel shrugged and kept walking. Before too long the fields of green turned into woods and the woods grew dark and uninviting. Koda didn't like it, Nora could tell by the way he flew closer and closer to Shilo. Happy and Natsu however seemed perfectly at ease, bored even.

Natsu sighed. "We've been walking for hours when are we gonna find these bandits?"

"Actually we've only been walking for one hour." Erza told him, keeping an eye on the woods. "There's no guarantee they're still in these woods. They could be miles away by now."

"Not likely." Gajeel informed her. "The scent's getting stronger, they're close but I can't tell how close."

Erza pondered this for a moment. "Seems strange bandits would stay so close to the house they just robbed, and if they are so close why didn't the guards find them?"

"So they could be anywhere?" Lucy asked suddenly getting nervous.

"Yes. In fact they could behind those bushes." Erza told her nonchalantly, not at all helping Lucy's nervousness as Lucy glanced at the bush and inched herself closer to Natsu. Suddenly Natsu perked up. He began sniffing the air when Gajeel saw this he did the same.

"Are they here already?!" Lucy panicked. _She isn't the bravest in Fairy Tail is she?_ Nora thought to herself. Nora heard a crack in the woods followed by multiple snaps of branches and rustling around. She did a full 360 but couldn't tell where the enemy was. She readied her script magic into a sword and shield as the noise grew louder. The rest of the wizards did the same. Koda and Happy landed beside their partners, they seemed uneasy but ready to face danger.

"What?" Gajeel began startled. Nora looked over to see Natsu had the same surprise on his face. "How many of them are there!"

"There's a lot more of them then that old geezer told us that's for sure! Alright, I'm all fire up!" Natsu's flames cloaked his hands.

Before any of them could react blue smoke filled the woods. Nora didn't know where it was coming from but the smoke made her cough, her eyes watered with the strain it took to breathe. "Wh-what is this?" Nora asked, barely audible. Next to her Shilo collapsed. Nora dropped down beside her sister and tried to wake her but nothing worked. Soon Nora's vision began to blur, she became light headed. She looked around to see Erza, Gajeel and Natsu still standing though the smoke's effects were clear in the way they moved. Natsu tried aiming his flames through the bushes but from what she could tell none of them served any purpose except to burn shrubbery.

Nora tried to stay awake but her vision faded and she collapsed next to Shilo and Koda.


	4. Chapter 4

Chapter 4

Shilo felt cold, it seeped down into her bones and made them weak. She opened her eyes and was immediately aware. From what she could tell Shilo was alone and tied up. Ropes covered the better part of her wrists keeping her chained to the wall and her feet off the ground. Neither Koda or Nora or even the other Fairy Tail members were anywhere to be seen. Shilo looked around, the room, or cave rather, it was dark and the only light came from a few torches at the entrance to the cave. The very air in the cave made Shilo shiver and she wished she had a jacket, unfortunately she was bound to the back of the cave with only a thin t-shirt on.

"Hello? Is anyone out there?" She called as loud as she could with her mouth so dry.

"It's useless calling." A voice creeped from the darkness and the cave became filled with smoke. Much like the smoke from the forest but a different color. "No one's around." Suddenly the voice was above her. "No one will hear you." It sounded to her left now. "You'll die here." Suddenly the voice was right next to her whispering in her ear. That cold conviction foretelling of her death felt like death itself had grabbed a hold of her heart.

For what seemed like the twentieth time Nora slashed at the bars with her script magic. It didn't even make a dent, still she persisted. Nora must have slashed at those bars till she couldn't stand because next thing she knew she was on the ground panting barely able to hold her sword up anymore.

"Give it up, those bars ain't gonna break." Nora turned back to her father. Gajeel was laying in the cell his back against the wall one leg stretched out on the ground while the other acted as a rest for his extended arm.

"You can't give up so easily." She hissed at him still panting from the effort.

"I'm not giving up, I'm waiting."

"For what!?" Nora exploded, she rounded on Gajeel with new energy. "For our friends to get killed? We have no idea where anyone else is, Shilo could be anywhere! She's probably terrified."

"Your sister ain't a little kid ya know. She's a strong mage and can handle her own."

"That doesn't matter! What matters is the fact that we all got captured! Don't you care about your daughter?"

"Course I do!" Gajeel stood up, Nora had gotten his attention now. "But wasting our energy trying to do the impossible is only gonna render us unable to save everyone else when the time comes." He told her sternly staring her down to get his point across.

"And you really think that time will come?" Nora asked still seething with anger.

"I know it will. We just gotta wait."

Nora and Gajeel did wait, a long time, at least a few hours before they heard footsteps clacking down a long hallway. Nora stood up immediately while Gajeel waited patiently on the floor. The person who came into sight looked young, younger than Nora and Shilo but the spite and anger in his eyes told of a man who had seen too much turmoil to retain innocence. He had delicate blonde hair to go with his young blue eyes.

His light features contrasted strangely with his black cloak. Without saying a word he pulled out a set of keys and opened the door of the cage. Nora was set to fight and took a step back caught off guard by how he would so readily open their cage.

"You, come with me." He rasped out pointing harshly at Nora. She looked back at Gajeel who now stood up.

"Where are you taking us?"

The man sighed. "Not us, _her_." He tried to grab Nora's hand but she pulled away.

"Where?" She demanded, forcing the words through her teeth.

"I want all the ladies together so I can see what I've got to pick from. If it were up to me, I would pick the blonde, the redhead, and the dark chick. But their souls aren't quite right. I got no say in the decision. Now, come with me." His words may not have had much threat, but his eyes said something different. Nora wasn't sure she wanted to ask anymore questions. She looked back at her father, who looked like he wanted to fight but backed off a little now. His posture said that he didn't care about what was going on, but his eyes were different. _Be strong. Don't show any fear. _Nora could read the message clearly in her fathers eyes. She nodded and then stepped out of the cage. The man locked the cage again and then pushed Nora forward. She walked down the hallway with the man pushing her every little bit. Nora looked back at the cage one last time and saw that Gajeel was standing at the door. Nora couldn't see it, but a single tear had rolled down the side of Gajeels face. he never showed it, but he had no idea where his daughter was being taken and feared for her safety.

When the man pushed Nora through another corridor they ended up outside where it was still dark, she looked around for as long as she could in a short time. They were still in the woods but Nora couldn't tell if they were in the same woods as before. The man was pushing her away from the rundown prison and towards a cave. Inside the cave Nora could see the girls of Fairy Tail pushed up against the wall all of them chained like her. What caught her attention though was Shilo in the middle of the cave. Her chains were far more severe as they held her in the air against the back of the cold wet cave. Her head was down causing her hair to cover her face. By Shilo's posture though Nora wasn't sure she wanted to see her face. She looked beaten and scarred but exhausted.

Lucy perked up when she saw Nora, she tried to say something but the two men keeping watch over them came over and slapped her. Erza spat and cussed at them, she received a painful slap as well. The man behind her pushed Nora forward and placed her between Erza and Shilo. Nora tried to nudge Shilo and get her attention while the men talked amongst themselves btu Shilo barely moved.

The only response Nora got was a head shake and a murmur that was inaudible. Shilo got a sinking feeling in the pit of her stomach and the blonde haired man that brought her here turned to them now.

"Sorry to end your miserable lives ladies but it seems like all of you will be needed for the spell to work."

"What!? What spell? What do you mean you need us all?"

The blonde scoffed, but he explained anyway. "I need your souls to bring back my dead mother."

"What's this about a dead mother? We were hired by Isadore Vendell to get back what you stole from him." The blonde came over and slapped Erza after she spoke.

"Don't say that name." He hissed at her, but directed it to all of us. The fire in his eyes dared anyone to defy his evil intentions. "My father is a fool, he doesn't deserve to hold her ring and call himself her husband…" The cave grew silent and Nora wondered if she should inquire more about this blonde man then he spoke again. "It's because of him that she is dead! I must have wrote a hundred letters begging him to cure her illness with his wealth but he never replied. Never cared, she died alone when I was out trying to find her help. If he had swallowed some of his greed and used his wealth to help her she would still be alive. Now I'm going to bring her back, to do that I need the souls of women that count as equals for hers. True I could use the one I think best qualifies but I only have one shot at this and want to do it right." Isadore's son turned around and told his bandit members to tie them more securely to the floor. He said he didn't want us moving around when the pain came full force.

Nora took a large gulp of nervousness as the bandits came over to them and tied their chains to other chains secured to the ground. Isadore's son told the bandit members to stand back as he readied the spell. Just like before in the woods smoke swirled around the cave. Blue smoke filled Nora's lungs and made her cough, then a wave of red smoke came, then green smoke, different colors kept forming in waves until they were all surrounded by a blackish brown color. Nora's palms grew sweaty she knew this spell would take her life, no not only hers but her comrades lives as well in exchange for one woman.

She struggled against her chains but to no avail. The smoke level increased and now she couldn't even see Shilo or Erza next to her. Everything was drowned out by swirls of black. She let out a cry of fear when suddenly the smoke cleared and she saw Isadore's son, the leader of the bandits, slammed into the side of the cave.

"FIRE DRAGONS ROAR!" A giant stream of fire came whaling into the rest of the bandits. They all were blasted against the cave wall just like their leader.

Dust lightly filled the cave but cleared away shortly after. Nora looked around and was pleased that everyone was alright. But the sight of her sister made her worried. The smoke must have been worse than she thought it was because she could just barely hear her sister wheezing, trying to breath. Nora then remembered the chains that held her to the ground and struggled against them.

"What are you trying to do? You'll never get free if you keep yanking the chains like that."

Nora looked over at Natsu, who stood staring at her like she had lost it. Nora scowled at him and continued to pull against her chains. Natsu just bent down and melted her chains, she thanked him and hurried to her sisters side.

"Shi?" She called to her, and although Shilo's head was still hanging limply she saw it move a little. A little movement was enough, it meant she was alive. Nora began undoing the chains that bound Shilo to the wall. When the last one came undone Nora caught her sister before she hit the ground.

Shilo began to stir more now and her feet supported her a little bit, she looked up at Nora with a forced smile.

"You alright?"

"Yeah." She replied and Nora put Shilo's arm around her, she supported her sister while the rest of the Fairy Tail members were reunited.

Natsu was helping Lucy up while Erza and Gajeel stood to face the bandits who were coming to their senses. Happy and Koda, although they were much smaller than the enemy they still held sticks as makeshift weapons. Natsu and Lucy stood beside their comrades.

"Hey Salamander." Gajeel began in a gruff but excited voice.

"Yeah?"

"How about we kick some ass!"

Natsu slammed his fists together. "Alright I'm all fired up!" Lucy brought out one of her keys, holding it triumphantly in the air.

"Open gate of the iron maiden, Virgo!"

Out of nowhere came a pink haired maid, "Punishment time, Princess?"

Erza requiped into her heavens wheel armor. "It's unwise to make enemies of Fairy Tail." The menace in her eyes could have curdled dairy, and it made Nora wince.

The bandit leader, Isadore's son, stood up and shouted to all the Fairy Tail members. "I wanted this to go peacefully but you have forced my hand. I shall sacrifice all of you in the most painful way I know!"

"Reed Ivor Vendell." Erza began her hair covering one of her eyes.

The bandit leader went white as a sheet. "I never told you my name." He hissed quietly as though he didn't want anyone to hear.

"You didn't need to. I remember your face from a wanted poster in the next town. It was a big thing when your mother died. By the time your father found out she was already dead. I remember a comrade of mine went on a job given to him by Isadore Vendell. The job was to find you and your mother and bring you home. When the job was failed he thought you both were dead. Your father cared Reed, but he never had the chance to show it."

Reed grew whiter he gritted his teeth but he didn't falter. "LIES! My father cared nothing for her! If he did why did he never reply to my letters?"

"He never received them." Erza said blatantly. "I'm guessing you didn't know about the hijacking of the delivery system two years ago. Everything burned to the ground, including the letters and mail that needed to be sent to all the families. That's when your mother was dying, correct?"

"How did you know all that?"

"I figured it out when I heard your name said by one of your comrades."

Reed turned back to his lackeys looking at each of them in turn as if they would confess to spilling his personal secrets, none of them did. Reed seemed to have enough because he enveloped himself in smoke again. This time blue smoke fell over the mages.

Nora couldn't see anything and the smell of the smoke made her gag. She coughed till she felt her lungs dry out, Shilo wasn't any better and coughed on the floor next to her. Nora knew she was responsible for getting her sister out of here so thinking wisely she ripped off a piece of her shirt and put it over Shilo's mouth to act as a filter. She did the same for herself and once she could breathe calmly she scripted her sword.

Nora looked around for enemies but she never left shilo's side lest she couldn't find her again. Nora heard fighting but she couldn't see anyone. She knew Natsu was fighting from his fire dragons roars, the same for Gajeel. Shilo put a hand on Nora's shoulder and Nora, fearing for her sisters health, turned around quickly. Shilo wasn't in trouble though, she stood resolute despite obviously being in pain, she fashioned ice on her cheeks to hold the cloth in place and readied her hands for fighting.

Nora wanted to tell her she would protect them but Shilo was stubborn and looked like she wouldn't take that as an answer. Nora smiled when she remembered what her father told her, "_Your sisters not a child, she can take care of herself."_ Nora knew that, Shilo was the same age as her being her twin and all but still Nora felt this overwhelming need to protect her, Nora reflected on this and thought, _Maybe its because beautiful things are so easily broken in this world they need to be protected._

But Shilo pushed the thought from her mind as they both stood back to back and fought any and all enemies that came their way.


	5. Chapter 5

Chapter 5

"Hurry, Natsu!" Lucy urged her partner as they tried to blast away fallen rocks.

"I know, I know!" He shouted, aiming another fire encoated punch to the rocks and clearing away a small portion of the rubble. Lucy could see Natsu was getting more agitated with every passing moment. Because every second was another second their friends were trapped under the collapsed cave.

"Dammit! I'm such a fool! I should have stayed to make sure they escaped as well!" Erza scolded herself as she moved rocks with gigantor and Virgo were working hard alongside their guild members to dig out their friends but they didn't seem to be getting anywhere. She knew they couldn't keep this up forever, Lucy was growing tired, summoning two spirits at a time like this was exhausting her quickly. Natsu, Erza, Taurus and Virgo were panting with the effort, even Happy who lifted every small rock and pebble was becoming tired.

Every inch the sun climbed higher in the sky made Lucy nervous. Everytime Virgo went under the rock with a new hole she came back up with no news of seeing their friends.

"Princess, the cave has completely collapsed. I cannot find them anywhere." She reported for the third time, Lucy cursed their luck and told Virgo to press on. She wanted to find Gajeel and his daughters as soon as possible. She began to miss Gajeel's cocky laugh, and Nora's strong attitude and Shilo's happy go lucky personality, even Koda's constant brags of his strength and bravery were missed by all the Fairy Tail members.

As the fairies kept working things seemed hopeless, the cave in had done much more damage than previously thought. If they wanted to find any trace of their friends they would have to blast away the rubble with explosives, but that alone would diminish any slim hope of their friends still being alive.

Just when Lucy was about to give in to what seemed evident the remaining rubble they hadn't cleared stirred to life.

"IRON DRAGONS ROAR!" A shout was heard and boulders flew up into the sky, propelled by iron like wind and blasting away the rubble faster than the Fairy Tail members had been clearing it. Dirt and dust filled the air and the guild members had to run for safety from the falling debris. When Lucy looked up from her hiding spot she could see Gajeel, clothes tattered and torn but his skin had turned to iron. He held each of his daughters under his arms and slowly made his way out of the rubble, almost stumbling with every step.

Erza came up immediately to help Gajeel. He nearly fell to the ground when she took Nora from his arms. Lucy dismissed her spirits and grabbed a hold of Shilo, Natsu was left to carry Koda.

Although Gajeel refused any help offered to him Natsu stayed by his side allowing the dragon slayer to lean ever so slightly on the other one. It was a small help but one that was obviously needed.

Before they left Lucy breathed a sigh of relief that her friends were still alive, though badly injured. Her eyes rested on a glinting object on the ground. She walked over slowly, still supporting Shilo and bent down ever so slightly to pick it up. Lucy turned the shiny object over in her hand.

It must have been Isadore's wedding ring. The gold band was topped with a glorious green emerald, surrounded by micro-sized diamonds. _This ring is beautiful...I wonder why Isadore's wife left him in the first place?_ Lucy wondered but she didn't allow herself time to think it over. The fairies carried their friends back to town for a much needed rest.

Darkness surrounded Shilo as she opened her eyes. She panicked as she saw nothing but the dark. _Am I dead? Where am I? _Shilo looked all around her but saw nothing that could help her. Wanting to escape the dark, Shilo ran. She didn't know which direction she was running in but that didn't matter. All she wanted was to get out of the dark and find her friends. She wanted to find her sister and be comforted by her warm hugs. She wanted to feel the the softness of her fox and see his happy face. But most of all, Shilo wanted to jump into the arms of her father. She lost him once before. She didn't want to lose him again.

Shilo ran faster and faster until it felt like her lungs were on fire. Her limbs were aching but Shilo kept going. Finally, Shilo's legs gave out and she collapsed to the floor. She was surrounded by pain and struggled to breathe. _Is this what it feels like to die? I never even got a chance to tell Nora, Koda or Daddy that I love them all one last time. _Shilo then started to fade into unconsciousness. But before her eyes closed fully, a voice echoed into Shilo's ears. _Shilo? Please wake up…_

"Please wake up. I can't bear to see my little girl like this. Please. Wake up."

Shilo felt a different environment than before. Her body still hurt but she could breathe fine. She didn't open her eyes but she could feel that the darkness was gone and she was surrounded by light. As she let herself adjust to the feelings of her surroundings, Shilo could feel that someone was holding her hand. Their hand was bigger than her own but felt familiar. Slowly opening her eyes and letting them adjust to the light, Shilo looked over to the person who held her hand. Her heart almost skipped a beat as Shilo looked at her father. His head was down so Shilo couldn't see his face, but she could tell that her father had been crying. It almost made Shilo cry, but she wanted Gajeel to see that she was still okay and just as happy as before.

Gajeel almost jumped off the stool he sat on when he felt a gentle squeeze. He looked up and felt his heart leap with joy. Staring back at him was the beautiful face he wanted to see. Shilo looked like she had been to hell and back but her eyes showed the happiness that Gajeel always saw in her, the kind of happiness that could stop the most violent wars heros in their tracks.

"You're awake! My little girl is finally awake!" Gajeel exclaimed as he got up from his seat. He leaned over Shilo and gave her a kiss on the forehead. Tears had started to fall down his face again, but they were tears of joy. Gajeel wiped away his tears as he sat down and tried to act like they weren't there. But that didn't matter as he looked at Shilo with a smile. He was about to say something when the sound of running paws interrupted him. Gajeel looked behind him and saw Koda running straight towards the bed, tears falling from his eyes like rivers.

"Shilo! You're awake! I thought I would never see you up again."

The little fox jumped onto the bed and into Shilo's waiting arms. As if he was a kit again, Koda made small whimpering sounds as he hugged Shilo. His face was wet from crying but he didn't care. Shilo giggled as she hugged her furry friend and kissed the top of his head.

"Koda, you silly furball. Nothing can keep me down. Besides, someone needs to look after you and I don't think Nora would be able to do that."

Gajeel laughed, and as Nora walked Shilo she stopped in her tracks after seeing Shilo awake. She had been holding a tray of food and her grip tightened when she saw Shilo. Nora managed to hold herself together, her lips tight, until she put down the tray and spoke to her sister.

"H-how ya feeling sis?" She asked with sympthy, almost crying as she took Shilo's other hand in hers. Shilo smiled. An understanding seemed to travel between his daughters, he knew Shilo was only smiling to see a Nora smile and make her happy. His girls had been through so much together, but he hadn't been there for them. Those damned tears almost came back but Gajeel pushed them down and instead grabbed both his girls in a big bear hug.

He grabbed onto each of their heads like he was holding onto heaven. "I'm never going to lose you two again. I'll always protect you, and I'll never leave you." Shilo happily snuggled into Gajeels warmth and even more unexpected, Nora did too. Gajeel had thought she would hate him after he left them, none the less, in the end Gajeel was forgiven, and he could finally forgive himself. Now they could be a family again, finally, they would have the luxury of each others comfort. Gajeel would fight every day for them, he vowed that in right then and there, in the moment he was holding onto the two most precious things in the world.


	6. Chapter 6

Chapter 6

1 YEAR LATER

"Aaahaha! Shilo! Get that thing away from us!"

Gajeel laughed a little as he watched his daughter chase Levy and Koda around the tree with a worm in her hand. The small group had spent half the day at the park. Nora would have joined them but she was looking for a quest to do, because rent was due soon. She said she would join them when she found a good paying job.

The group of fairies were at the park till well after noon. Levy had brought a lunch for everyone but almost cried when she saw that she didn't bring any ice for the drinks. Shilo helped out by using her ice-make magic.

Levy practically cooed over Shilo and Nora. Gajeel could see Levy had taken a liking to his girls and their magic. She often tried to bring up the relationship of Gajeel's former wife and what had happened to cause Gajeel's family to break apart in the first place, Gajeel hadn't given her an answer so far. The topic was far too personal for him, he didn't want to think about the tragedy that took hold of his wife, he didn't want to think about the fact that even though he loved her so much that he now had an interest in Levy and that was almost sacrilege. He didn't want to think about his girls lost and alone after that kidnapper took them away from him, but most of all he didn't want to admit his inability to save them. In truth, Gajeel was just too weak to hold on to a family.

_Not anymore…_ he vowed silently, _I'm stronger than I was then. I'll protect my girls...and Levy._ He was broken from his thoughts as Nora came up to him, holding a job posting.

She smiled at him and pointed to the reward printed in large letters on the posting; **500,000 JEWEL FOR WHOEVER CAN BRING MY SISTER HOME! **The script was written large enough to catch anyone's attention. Gajeel stood up and waited for Nora to call everyone else over and discuss the job with more detail.

Pantherlily talked with Koda a little as they walked behind Shilo and Nora. It seemed like everyone was getting along, that made Gajeel smile.

"Okay, guys. I found a perfect job!" Nora began when she had everyone's attention. "It says here that someones sister was taken when they were really young, since then the client has been gathering information on the kidnapping and has finally raised sufficient money to pay for his sisters safe return." Nora was paraphrasing from the poster, then she looked up to find everyone's input.

"So his sister went missing!" Shilo began. "We should definitely take it! I don't know what I'd do if I lost you Nora." Shilo offered sheepishly, Nora returned the kind words with a thankful smile.

"Good so when do we leave?" Gajeel prompted.

"I'd say we can get everything ready tonight and leave tomorrow morning." Nora reported.

"This will be so fun! We haven't gone on a mission in ages!" Koda said while quickly flying up to sit on Shilo's shoulder.

"Koda it's only been about a week!"

"Exactly my point!" He insisted which made everyone laugh.

Gajeel began to walk with Shilo, Nora, Koda and Lily when he turned around. "Oi! Shrimp!" Levy turned to him, she had apparently begun walking the other way. "You coming?"

Levy blushed and scuffed her feet on the ground. "No, Shadowgear hasn't done a quest together in a while so I was gonna pick one up with Jet and Droy. Besides I told them I'd meet them at the entrance to Fairy Hills tonight."

Gajeel faltered, Levy was normally open with him, now that the pain of the past was behind them but she was acting strange. It wasn't like her to hold back. After the year his daughters had spent in Fairy Tail he'd thought Levy had gotten used to their company, but lately she'd been distancing herself more and more. He told the others he'd meet up with them at his house later and walked towards Levy. "I'll walk ya home." Was all he said and Levy smiled then fell into step beside him.

They must have spent more time at the park then Gajeel thought because the sun was beginning to set. The first inklings of golden-red colored the horizon and climbed higher in the sky the farther he walked with Levy.

Levy was silent and had a thoughtful look on most of the way, so Gajeel thought he'd break the ice. He small talked, mostly, asking her what kind of job she'd take with Jet and Droy. Levy answered simply, barely giving out more words than necessary.

When they reached Fairy Hills Gajeel decided he'd ask her what was wrong.

Levy immediately looked at the ground, her interest in her feet grew increasingly more so the more he prompted an answer from her.

"I'm sorry." She said finally. "I've just been thinking about Nora and Shilo lately." Gajeel raised an iron eyebrow but let her explain. "You see they told me they might be leaving Magnolia to go back home," Levy's eyes met Gajeel's now, "I guess I thought you would want to go with them. But the whole thing's absurd!" She added quickly looking away. "It was stupid of me to be sad if you left, they're your daughters and you can't be expected to stay away from them after so many years when you haven't seen each other…" Levy trailed off. Gajeel could only take this as meaning she ran out of things to say or, judging from the look on her face, was busy criticizing herself for saying anything at all.

Gajeel put a hand on her shoulder, then with his other hand lifted her chin so they were looking each other in the eyes. "I'm not going anywhere." He said, his voice gruff and concise. Levy blushed even more, he watched her rosy cheeks go redder than Erza's hair and almost smiled. Bangs fell into her face and Gajeel pushed them away with one hand, then with one fluid movement her put his hand behind her head and caressed the soft skin of her neck. He ran his fingers through her hair and pulled her closer. He could feel her breath now, the split second seemed to take a lifetime. Levy's eyes darted between his lips and eyes.

He gave into temptation and pulled Levy into a passionate kiss. His arms instinctively went around her, practically picking her up off the ground, he leaned into the kiss. Levy did the same and they were both locked in each other's paradise.

But the moment ended and they both pulled away, Gajeel didn't realize he still had his arms around her until he heard the very loud clearing of someone's throat. Gajeel let her go and turned to see who was standing there. It was Jet and Droy, they both looked impatient but amused. Gajeel scowled then looked at Levy.

She smiled up at him and said; "Thanks for walking me home. Come see me when you, Shilo and Nora get back from your job, okay?" Levy hid her guilty pleasure of the kiss in a friendly smile. Her words suggested no other relationship but that of good friends, but Gajeel could hear the sincerity and closeness relayed under the words. The kiss was great for him, and he could only assume from her actions that it was good for her too.

"Ghihihi!" He laughed. "Sure! See ya later shorty!" He said placing a large hand to pat her head before leaving.

Gajeel turned around only when he knew Levy, Jet and Droy had gone inside. He wasn't sure if he expected to see her standing there waiting for him but he did know that's what he wanted to see. He tried to push thoughts of her from his mind, but they only came back when his fingers flew up to touch his lips. She had kissed them with the desperation that comes from missing someone. The way her lips met his, it was a passionate kiss. One that his wife and him would often share before she was brutally murdered leaving him to raise his daughters alone.

The next day Gajeel set out with his daughters, and the two exceeds. The client they had to meet wasn't too far from Magnolia, in fact it was two towns away. When Gajeel and co arrived in the town they looked around for the client. Quite different from their first client he lived in a rundown shack in the middle of the slum district of town.

Gajeel looked around, every person here seemed to be giving all the mages dirty looks. At one point Gajeel had to give one guy a good iron pounding for looking at Nora in a way that would make any father/boyfriend seethe. The group kept walking and eventually banged on a rotting wooden door. Shuffles could be heard coming from inside. Gajeel even heard a loud clang of pots and pans before the door was quickly opened.

Standing there was a young man who had to be no older than Salamander. Shilo introduced them as the mages from Fairy Tail. The client introduced himself as Isaac and led the way to bring them inside. With one last shifty look around the neighborhood he closed the door and locked it.

Gajeel frowned as he looked around, the floorboards creaked under foot and split apart in some places. The place was a mess but it wasn't dirty. Newspaper clippings and maps of every area known were strewn about on the floor.

Isaac came back from the doorway and faced the Fairy Tail wizards. "Thank you so much for coming!" He began to say then his eyes seemed to fall on the mess and he ran around trying to tidy up. "I-I'm sorry. I just- sorry." He repeated running this way and that pulling papers together in no visible arrangement.

"Just tell us what you need us to do." Nora began her face stoic and her words relaying no message whatsoever.

"I've been searching for my lost sister for decades. She-she was taken when we were just kids." He got straight to the point. "I've searched possible kidnappers and traced each one to a location but last time I tried to...handle the situation, on my own...well it didn't go so well."Isaac stammered. "Well I managed to find a lead that promises better results than the last one. But I can't try that again, I'm simply not a mage and have no affinity towards magic. I'm certain though that the man who took my sister is a magic user. Which means-"

"You need us to do the dirty work?" Gajeel finished the squirly mans sentence.

"Uh- yeah. If you wanna look at it like that."

"Ghihihi, sounds like fun." Gajeel laughed and Lily came forward.

"Give us all the information you have on this kidnapper. The more we know the faster we can bring your sister home." Isaac offered a somewhat forced smile but none the less Gajeel could see the hope that shined in his eyes as he explained every piece of information he'd gathered over twenty years.

After extorting all the information they could from Isaac Nora, Shilo, Gajeel, Koda and Lily headed out. From what Isaac said the kidnapper stopped in town a few days ago under the guise of an innocent civilian. Isaac seemed pretty sure it was him from the memory he has of the kidnappers face as he saw it as a child, however Nora couldn't help feeling skeptical.

Nora and co headed south, the direction Isaac had told them the kidnapper had gone. Gajeel took another look at the paper Isaac had handed them, Nora pulled up the image of the kidnapper in her head. She scanned the crowd, no faces popped out at her though.

Nora noticed Gajeel's grip on the piece of paper intensified. "What's wrong?" She asked him.

"Don't you recognize his face?" Gajeel said and Nora took another look at the piece of paper. It was crudely drawn, pencil marks formed a round edged face with a rather unsettlingly large nose and hair going to below his shoulders.

Nora tried to conjure up any recognition of the face when Shilo leaned in too to get a better look. Then it clicked. Give the man sickly pale skin and slimy green hair and Nora could see a face she never wanted to see again. Her breath caught in her mouth and her fists clenched.

"This was the man who kidnapped you two as kids." Gajeel said through gritted teeth, his eyes contained a fury in them that reminded her of the day Shilo and her were first taken.

As it was they had only just managed to escape when the creepy old man was out kidnapping another poor soul, along the way Shilo met Koda and they all escaped together. Nora never looked back at that place, the way that old man acted was creepy beyond comprehension. Nora looked over and saw Shilo grow paler.

Suddenly the paper was crumbled to nothing. Gajeel held the destroyed picture in his hands and growled. "I swear I'll kill that bastard." He angrily tossed the paper to the ground. Shilo looked after their father with concern. Nora picked up the paper again, uncrumbled it and studied the face. She wasn't rather excited about finding this man again but Shilo and her were Fairy Tail wizards now. They'd grown stronger then when they last saw him and certainly stronger since they'd been in Fairy Tail.

Nora, Koda, and Shilo shared a look of foreboding. _If this creep is still kidnapping kids then what better justice than us to be the ones who bring him down. _Nora curled her hands into fists and followed her father.


	7. Chapter 7

Not many people had seen or even heard of the man Shilo, Nora and Gajeel showed to them. Most had no useful information. However Nora has a way of extorting information and before too long they'd found out where the bastard was hiding.

All signs pointed to somewhere on the outskirts of town. There had been some sightings of the kidnapped victims there, and that was the last place most were ever seen.

All the mages agreed that should be the place they check first. Shilo didn't see much when they first arrived, the suburbs were behind them, an endless road in front of them. Shilo put her hands on her hips. "You said this was where the kidnapped kids were seen but I don't see anything. What gives?"

Nora scowled as she began to search the area. Gajeel remained still, smelling the air for any signs. Suddenly his finger pointed to the treeline. "Try looking over there. It's faint but there's no doubt that the kidnappers scent."

"You sure?" Shilo questioned.

"Yeah, I could never forget that scent…" He trailed off and the misery came back to his face just as easily as it was to remember the traumatic incident.

Nora did what he said. She walked over to the treeline looking everywhere it seemed. Koda climbed his way to sit on Shilo's shoulder while they waited. "Hey, I think I found something!" Nora called out.

"Yeah! Great job Nora!" Shilo called to her sister.

"Hehehe, that's our girl!" Koda flashed her a thumbs up. Nora smiled but she didn't offer any other recognition as Gajeel inspected what she'd found.

"Looks pretty suspicious to me." She crossed her arms and waited for Gajeel's response as he pondered what she found.

"Ghihihi. I think this is it." He patted Nora on the shoulder and moved so that Shilo and Koda could see what they were looking at.

Uncovered of most of it's leaves and sunk into the earth was a large trap door, it's hinges rusted beyond repair. Just the sight of it made Shilo sick, but she swallowed the bile and followed Gajeel and Nora down the ladder into the hole. Koda was silently quivering the whole way.

The more they descended the more painful memories were brought to mind. At the bottom of the ladder was a long corridor that looked all too familiar. Shilo always tried to forget her experience here after Nora and her escaped. But memories had a way of resurfacing, one way or another.

Along the corridor was an unnavigable system of longer corridors. Gajeel kept his nose sharp, using the kidnappers smell to guide them through. Too soon did the walls become more familiar. Shilo could now remember the corridor they were in leading to a dead end where one door stood as the entrance to the kidnappers "house", if you could call it that.

"Ready?" Gajeel called as he placed a single hand on the handle of the door about to open it. Shilo and Nora nodded.

Nora felt a cold chill start in her stomach and move up her spine. She was shaking from...anticipation, excitement, fear? She didn't know but she kept her nerve, for Shilo. Nora knew Shilo was remembering the same things she was about their time with this creep. They weren't pleasant memories in the least. After so many years trying to forget them Nora found it odd she was actively seeking them out now. Odd but necessary.

Gajeel cracked the door open a bit, the light flooded the dim hallway and he put one foot in first. When Gajeel was fully in the door he waved his hand, a gesture for Nora and Shilo to follow. When she stepped into the room it was...different. She knew the hallways from days of trying to escape them with her sister but she didn't know this room, or at least the kidnapper had redecorated or something. The walls were blindingly white with bright pink trim and curtains. Children's toys littered the floor along with the occasional book here and there left to collect dust in no gentle manner. The furniture was somewhere between modern home and child's play house. Nora cringed at the thought of something so peaceful and childish belonging to a man who brought nothing but pain to innocent families.

"This guy is a psycho…" She said and not for the first time too.

"Let's just find him and get out of here." Shilo repeated the words from Nora's head.

The mages continued through the 'house', Koda exclaiming all the way how he was going to punch the lights out of the kidnapper.

Everything seemed eerily quiet and that set Nora's nerves on edge. Something evil lurked in this house but everywhere they went it was bright lovely colors combined with remnants of a child's supposed happiness. Finally they came to a room that had what they were looking for. The first thing Nora noticed was the cowering, chained children, five of them, looking up at a man with slimy green hair that had haunted Nora's dreams for years. She also noticed behind the man, looking like hired bodyguards, were two boys who looked to be Nora and Shilo's age.

Something about the two boys beside the kidnapper seemed familiar and it wasn't until they turned around did she realize. _Those boys…_

"...Gavin?" Shilo breathed beside her. The two boys, one blonde the other dark haired stirred up memories from the past. Nora remembered them as the two boys who were trapped with them when they were kidnapped. They escaped without them and Nora had always regretted not being able to care for them too. As it was she barely got Shilo out with her.

"Rhett?" Nora called to the dark haired boy. "You're…"

The slimy kidnapper had realized we were there and now his smile grew so wide Nora wanted to throw up. "My little girls!" His voice came, raspy from old age but filled with a kind of ecstasy only druggies can experience.

"Shilo! Nora! We knew you'd come back! We knew you'd realize our real home is here with dad!" Rhett claimed a disgustingly excited expression on his face.

"By god…" Nora heard Shilo say under her breath as she realized the two boys they'd planned an escape with had developed stockholm syndrome for that bastard.

Before another word could be thought a large iron beam flew from Gajeel and hit the kidnapper straight in his chest. He slammed into the wall, cracking the concrete and making the frightened children cry out. Nora looked over at her father to see a kind of hatred she'd never seen on anybody. His eyes radiated murder and the way his jaw was set made Nora shiver. None the less she readied herself for a fight when Rhett and Gavin claimed they would kill anybody who hurt 'daddy'.

The kidnapper stopped them before they attacked and when Gajeel withdrew his arm for another attack he spoke.

"But, Luscious-san?" Gavin protested.

"Silence." Luscious held up a hand and both boys cringed as if afraid to be hit. Nora didn't blame them, that man was bad news, she was just glad her and Shilo had gotten away even if they couldn't save Gavin and Rhett. "I think I remember you." He said as blood dripped down his nose, he didn't seem to care about it though. Luscious paced a bit then, "Ah yes. You're the one who gave me this." He scowled and lifted up his shirt to show them a large burn wound on the side of his stomach. Nora suddenly remembered the fire that had signified the day she was taken away from her father.

"Yeah." Gajeel taunted him. "I'm about to give you another one just like it! I might be persuaded to go easy on you if you let those kids go now." Gajeel's arm was still an iron beam that he held menacingly in front of him like a sword. Nora readied her script magic and Shilo got ready with her ice make magic.

Luscious cackled so loudly he choked on his own spit. When he recovered from his coughing fit his stance was anything but normal. His arms flopped down like they were controlled by slacked strings. His head lolled from side to side and his smile told Nora that he'd gotten crazier every year until he was able to reach this point...of total madness. "What do you mean, let those kids go? They are mine after all. I saved them from the streets...I saved them from people who would hurt them. As long as they are here they are safe from meddlers like _you!"_ Luscious stood up straight and brought his arms to a battle stance so that when the last words was emphasized he shot out a snowstorm of white paper.

Gajeel jumped to the side, noting how the old man had gotten slower since he'd last seen him, stealing his daughters twelve years ago. Or perhaps Gajeel had gotten stronger. Either way this would play out in his favor in the end. Gajeel was determined to bring this guy down. His fingers itched and curled into a fist he longed to pound into that man's smile. Gajeel saw an opening and struck, hitting the crazed bastard where it counted, and knocked a few teeth out to boot.

Gajeel allowed himself a glance at the chaos the room had erupted into. Gavin was fighting Shilo, his fire magic taking it's toll on her ice magic. Rhett had taken on Nora, any script magic she used would be nullified by his defense magic, and any attack he tried was dodged by Nora's skillful footwork. All around the fight was balanced, that ticked Gajeel off. He wanted this guy dead and he wanted him dead now.

"No one kidnaps my little girls!" He shouted before landing another iron blow on Luscious.

"Kidnaps?" The old man called loud and surprised. "You are the one who has done the kidnapping!" He screamed back and Gajeel was cut by his white paper magic.

The fight continued longer than Gajeel would have wanted. Blow after blow he aimed at the old man seemed to do nothing. Luscious would just get up and keep fighting. At long last Nora had gained some ground and left Rhett unconscious, she came to Gajeel's side ready to battle Luscious along side him. With his dragon slayer magic and her script magic he was sure they could take him down. Suddenly Gajeel got a flashback of jobs he'd taken with the Shrimp. He shook his head, _Now's not the time to think of Levy! I gotta kill this guy!_

"Iron dragons wing!"

"Solid script! Thousand swords dance!"

He sent iron dragon slayer magic rushing at Luscious, she summoned an armory of swords and sent them flying at the target, they moved with fierce severity combined with his iron attack.

The room exploded into dust and debris. Gajeel feared he'd gone to far but the sound of small running feet and terrified screams told him the kidnapped children were okay, scared to death but okay. Nora gasped when she saw through the dust.

Shilo had finished off Gavin at the same time Gajeel and Nora set their attacks towards Luscious. As it turned out Gavin had cushioned Luscious before he hit the wall.

Gajeel scoffed as Luscious once again got up from the hit. "You've been naughty girls haven't you." He said addressing Shilo and Nora. "That bad man must have filled your head with bad thoughts...I'll have to teach you all a lesson then."

Gajeel readied himself for a trump card counter attack. He wanted to strike before Luscious had a chance to, so he did.

"IRON DRAGONS ROAR!"

"FLAMING WHITE PAPER DAGGERS!"

Both attacks hit at the same time, causing confusion and fatal wounds.

Nora watched both men go at each other with everything they had. If she wasn't already ducking from her father's furious attack she ducked from Luscious's flaming paper daggers. Gajeel seemed to block most of it for them. One dagger stuck out from his shin but he held his stance. The smoke cleared once more and Nora saw Luscious, piled over Gavin's motionless body. They lay there unmoving. Nora allowed herself a sigh of relief. Until she heard a body hit the floor. She turned to see her sister holding her stomach.

In the end Gajeel hadn't stopped all the daggers, only some. Three pierced Shilo's chest and she spat out blood.

"SHILO!" Nora shouted running over to her. Nora caught Shilo before she could hit the floor. Not only were the daggers penetrating her chest but they were still on fire. Hot enough to cauterize the wound but dangerous enough to cause possible burns and internal bleeding on Shilo.

Nora turned Shilo's limp form over in her arms. Shilo had passed out, and she was so pale Nora feared she died. Instinctively Shilo grabbed her pen and wrote her strongest healing script around her sister. Nora's tears fell on the scripted runes and washed away the effect. Nora cursed tried to dry her tears and tried again. She kept trying, even the times the script did it's best healing job Shilo didn't look any better.

"Shilo!" Koda screamed for her, putting his tiny paws on her side and pushing as if he expected her to get up. Nora noticed his ear had been pierced as well, then she noticed the tears falling down Koda's red cheeks. Nora didn't know what to do, her script magic wasn't strong enough. Shilo was dying in her arms and she couldn't do anything…

In the midst of all her pain and hopelessness Gajeel swooped in to pick Shilo up without another word. He walked out the door, limping from his wound, and carried Shilo away. Nora slowly came to her senses and followed her father. The tears streamed down hotter and more plentiful. Instead of taking his place on Shilo's shoulder like always Koda perched himself on Nora's. He buried his head in her hair, wetting it with his tears. All Nora offered him was a reassuring, and shaking, hand.

Gajeel and co. exited the kidnappers domain as fast as they could.

In the end it was a good thing they had gotten Shilo out of there as fast as they did or the physicians might not have been able to save her. Nora's script magic helped keep her alive too. In three weeks Shilo was back on her feet. Unfortunately she'd always have a scar but the pain was over. Nora and Shilo could finally forget the pain Luscious had caused them, the only reminder the scar that he left on Shilo.

Gajeel went to see the client after the deed was done. He told him Luscious had been taken behind bars but after a thorough search they didn't find the man's sister...only her remains.

Nora looked over at Shilo, at the life she'd almost lost and thought about the despair their client must be feeling. Even if he had assured them it'd been twenty years and it just felt detached. Still Gajeel claimed they had failed to bring back the man's sister and refused to accept any money.

Finally Nora, Shilo, Koda, and Gajeel could return home as a family, the pain of the past placed behind them in a small drawer in the back of their minds. They no longer had to touch upon those memories...now all they had and all they needed, was their family. Their family in Fairy Tail.

AN: THE END! I hope you guys enjoyed reading this. Also extremely sorry about the vast periods of time I didn't update! Anyway I'm back now and have posted the last on this story, one I would like to add I wrote with a good friend of mine. We both collaborated on it, and it was fun to think of ideas as well as the characters. If you liked it check out some of my other fanfics too! Thanks so much for reading! :)


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